So happy
that I found three of them that had giant bubble nests in 'em.
IN THOSE TINY CUPS.

It's a decent indication that they're well taken care of anyway.... I work there, so I know. Water changes every morning, fed three pellets a day... and any sickly ones are treated as diagnosed.

I freaking LOVE my local store.
And am so so so happy that they decided not to move away, lul.

ALSO:
I meant to get a female betta (which was really the reason I was looking at all the cups there, besides when feeding them) and I guess they all got sold. >>; There were two black ones left. And I'm already getting a dark female in a few days (my pair shipped today, WOO), so I'll wait til the new shipment Thursday.
Anyway
I meant to get a female... and I came home with a turtle.
Wat.

Long story short - he was free to me 'cause the store owners knew I have a turtle so I know how to care for them, and she was too small to sell (legally)... so I now have her in my posession until she grows half an inch. And my grama's maaad... |D (She didn't want any more pets... neither did I honestly.... FREAKING IMPULSIVE MOUTH.)

Hehe... yeah... I'm regretting it a bit, but this uneasiness will pass.
(I have way too many pets for my granparents' comfort... |D )

And usually you can tell whether they're a boy or girl by claw and tail sizes. Depending on how old they are, you can also tell by how big they are.

Samm (my turtle) has long claws, a long tail, and is as big as he's ever going to get. 6" (And he's bug for a boy.)

Rahbyn (as I'm calling the new girl until I take her back) is short-clawed, short-tailed... but she's still a juvie, so you can't tell from her size. But she's a girl. |D

btw, Samm doesn't like her... he already bit her leg once. |D; Now she's in one of my spare 5 gallon buckets.... Which I was gonna use tomorrow for my fishes' water changes. :P But... the 10 gallon has got enough foliage to take care of one more day's ammonia.

Blakbird~ You sound like such an animal lover!!! It reminds me of when I was a kid, I used to sneak pets into the house. Sometimes it would be days before my Mom would find them - hamsters, guinea pigs - and i brought home a cat, too. But my daughter got me back many years later. She kept a pet snake in her closet, and I didn't find it for months!!!! =)) (True story!!)

But yeah, my Mom raised me to be nice to animals... and watching Steve Irwin all the time as a kid helped me absolutely love them, of all kinds. :D
And the turtle wasn't so much sneaking as it was impulse.... I was replacing the bedding for the mice when suddenly Amber asked "Hey, do you want a free turtle?"
"... A what?"
"Free turtle."
"..."
"Free."
">> What kind is it..?"
"(I don't remember, some kind of slider, not red-eared). It's too small to sell, so we can't take it--"
"Um, okay."

Half wasn't thinking, half was and my mouth talked faster than my brain... so... I said yes. xD
And okay, the conversation didn't go exactly like that (like the repetitive word "free", lol), but it was something like that.

Here's an update on my grama being mad, too... |D She woke me up this morning, asked when I was going to get up, and then asked, Oh hey, where's the turtle?
And she keeps asking about her... lul, she's either trying to get used to the idea I'm raising it or actually getting attatched to her cuteness. 8D

Turtles live about as long as any average human. They're bound to get big... (though the males stay small, prolly 'cause they're not the ones with baby-turtle-egg-makers in their bodies, lol)
I know female painted turtles can get as big 11"-12" in shell diameter.
Samm's already passed the limit for males. He's 6 1/2" isd and only 7 years old this June.